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RE: Event Viewer Integration

BryanWieg — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 09:35:31 GMT

8) Hmm, no circle? I haven't seen that, lol. As for a red circle, well I can think of two approaches:

A) The program already checks for a open port to determine the color. If it is red, there is nothing for it to connect to. You could set it to display an error message, "VNC Server is unreachable on the selected computer. Click here for ways to fix this." or some such. The other step for that would be to have the program perform a refresh of the status on the selected computer before the connection attempt is made. The program would adjust the displayed status of the remote service if nessesary, and perform the appropriate action - error or connect.

This is so the status is service on the remote PC is accurately displayed. Otherwise, we would run into the problem of the program connecting because sometime ago it was online, but now its not (program says its online, but won't connect me); or 30 minutes ago it was offline, but now it is (Why does it connect? It says red).

B) Attempt the connection on click, regarless of past state. If connection fails, change the circle to red (if was green). If the connection was red on connect, but the connection was now successfull, change it to green. If no change, well change nothing on the screen. If connection fails then error, if connection works, well, then it worked. :)

Each is a reverse of the other. If you think there is another obstical to having 'Quick Access' icons, let me know. It is one step less than the right click when going for the non-default connection :w00t: I have to say, I use each (VNC, RDP) about %50 - %50.

:) Thanks for everything. s-code is awsome :cool:

RE: Event Viewer Integration

Support (s-code) — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 04:05:15 GMT

[quote]8) The colored circled in PC's row showing green or reb or blue depending on Service State. If I double-click the VNC circle, I'd like it to open a VNC connection; and if I double-click the RDP circle, a RDP connection. Same for the VNC and RDP pics next to the colored state circles.[/quote]
This raises few questions: what if the circle showing failed status? or if there is no circle at all? Meanwhile you could use keyboard shortcuts to initiate corresponding connection :)

[quote]9) Yeah, a logo. I don't care if its the same VNC logo you use on the main PC list. (big V, little n and c) I just want a fast easy way to see what kind of connection a tab is.[/quote]
ok. will be changed in one of the upcoming builds.

[quote]10) is there a way to set this by folder?[/quote]
Not yet. But I think after v3.5 gets released (in a couple of weeks) we will be adding feature to set all registered computer settings, except address, on per group basis. This one is going to be in v4.0 for sure.

RE: Event Viewer Integration

BryanWieg — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 18:42:32 GMT

6) :p

8) The colored circled in PC's row showing green or reb or blue depending on Service State. If I double-click the VNC circle, I'd like it to open a VNC connection; and if I double-click the RDP circle, a RDP connection. Same for the VNC and RDP pics next to the colored state circles.

9) Yeah, a logo. I don't care if its the same VNC logo you use on the main PC list. (big V, little n and c) I just want a fast easy way to see what kind of connection a tab is.

10) is there a way to set this by folder?

RE: Event Viewer Integration

Support (s-code) — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 11:11:18 GMT

[quote]4) What about good ol' right click -> rename? I'm lazy :P[/quote]
Going to be implemented along with F2. Actually F2 is fasted, after you select Rename command you would have to use a keyboard anyway :)

[quote]6) (new) Could the 'Execute Remote command' be multi-threaded?[/quote]
Certainly, this is something to look forward for in v4.0 ;)

[quote]7) (new) a Column in the main screen to show the currently logged on user.[/quote]
It was planned for initial v3.5 release, but didn't make it. But later we will add it to the v3.5 branch.

[quote]8) (new) On the main screen, if I click on the VNC circle of a PC, it opens a VNC connection, whereas, if I click the RDP circle, it opens a RDP connection. Same thing for the VNC connected and RDP connected indicators would be nice.[/quote]
Sorry what circle? ...hmm may be because it's too late here, will try to figure what you are talking about in the morning :)

[quote]9) (new) On the tabs of connected computers. If a connection is a VNC connection, let the little picture on the tab be a VNC sign. If the connection is RDP, let it be a PC sign. BTW, I really like the icons in this program. Not quick and cheap looking at all, very professional. :D[/quote]
You mean the icon should be a remote screen or just a VNC logo? If you are talking about screen, then it gonna be too small to make any sence. And if you are talking about a loge.. the problem is that there are no standard one. Which one to use ? :) Currently in case of RDP connection, we use standard RDP icon used by MS.

[quote]10) (new) A way to set VNC to 'View Only' be default on connect. There are some settings, like on the Deployment Wizard (I think) with a checkbox for that. But it either does nothing, or not what I thought it does[/quote]
You can set this setting in the registered computer properties. You click on the VNC Options button and after that switch to Settings tab.

RE: Event Viewer Integration

BryanWieg — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 11:03:16 GMT

I'm sorry, I don't know what exactly I did to cause it. I'm always just messing around trying to find new things in here.

3.5.17.2 for both files.

RE: Event Viewer Integration

Support (s-code) — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 10:57:31 GMT

[quote]Crashed today:
************** Exception Text **************
System.IO.FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly 'SmartCode.RemoteManager, Version=3.5.17.1, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=fa7f03f4da8be0e3' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)
File name: 'SmartCode.RemoteManager, Version=3.5.17.1, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=fa7f03f4da8be0e3'[/quote]
Sounds like something wrong with setup.

What build do you have installed?

What are the versions of VNCManager.exe and SmartCode.RemoteManager.dll. They can be found at:
C:\Program Files\SmartCode\VNC Manager Enterprise\

Is this crash reproducible?

RE: Event Viewer Integration

BryanWieg — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 10:46:52 GMT

Crashed today:

************** Exception Text **************
System.IO.FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly 'SmartCode.RemoteManager, Version=3.5.17.1, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=fa7f03f4da8be0e3' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)
File name: 'SmartCode.RemoteManager, Version=3.5.17.1, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=fa7f03f4da8be0e3'

RE: Event Viewer Integration

BryanWieg — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 10:43:50 GMT

4) What about good ol' right click -> rename? I'm lazy :P

5) What about just adding a port box to a folder's properties? Or the VNC and RDP Defaults button to each folder. Having to go to the VNC Manager Options to configure a folder when you can just right click a folder and go to properties is overly complicated. However, I do like the idea of the Defaults being in the VNC Manager Options, those settings would be global. While if you wanted to set the defaults of a folder, well, you look in a folders properties.

6) (new) Could the 'Execute Remote command' be multi-threaded? I'd like to see a command be caried out on several computers simultaniously instead of one by one. If I want to see the output of a PC, I can click the PC and the right window shows the output of just that computer. I don't like having one loooong list of the output of all the Pc's. :) Other than that, I think this feature is fantastic.

7) (new) a Column in the main screen to show the currently logged on user.

8) (new) On the main screen, if I click on the VNC circle of a PC, it opens a VNC connection, whereas, if I click the RDP circle, it opens a RDP connection. Same thing for the VNC connected and RDP connected indicators would be nice.

9) (new) On the tabs of connected computers. If a connection is a VNC connection, let the little picture on the tab be a VNC sign. If the connection is RDP, let it be a PC sign. BTW, I really like the icons in this program. Not quick and cheap looking at all, very professional. :D

10) (new) A way to set VNC to 'View Only' be default on connect. There are some settings, like on the Deployment Wizard (I think) with a checkbox for that. But it either does nothing, or not what I thought it does.

RE: Event Viewer Integration

Support (s-code) — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 21:35:50 GMT

[quote]2) If I click to open the Task Manager of a PC (right click the PC -> Computer Management Tasks -> Task manager), it opens the window with the computer in the connect box, but does not connect. ??? If I right click a PC and want to open the Task manager for it, it should connect upon opening the window. As it is, I must hit connect and then it bring the list of processes. That’s too many clicks! I'm lazy :p[/quote]
There was a beta build in that the Task Manager would connect automatically. And after using it for a while it was decided to remove the autoconnect. The problem is that not always you have a correct computer selected when you click Task Manager button. It was especially annoying when the computer was down or unreachable, so you had to wait while the Task Manager establishes connection to it, pop-ups error message box, etc. May be we could make this behaviour configurable, but trust me, after I while you would have the Autoconnect mode turned off :)

[quote]3) Remote Administration of Windows Services: As it is, when I want to take a look at the services running on a PC, I right click it, and go to Computer Management Tasks -> Manager Services -> and Stop, Start, or restart. After making use of this it didn't take me long to realize that I needed to know the status of a service before I did any of those. Soooo, I would click any of the three just to open the 'Manage Service' window. And that’s not all, in order to see what services are on the PC, I have to click the middle small button by the box 'Service Name' and then type in the name of the computer I just right clicked, connect to that, and then it displays is a list below the input a short scroll list of the services and their state on the target PC. Whew! That was exausting! I was trouble shhoting VNC service today and wound up using the service.msc console to do what I needed because that was too clumsy, and would not reflect the states 'Stopping' or 'Starting', only 'Running' and 'Stopped'.

Suggestion: That Services Manager (in my humble opinion) should be reworked. It is too clumsy and not obvious to use. I do like its ability to perform an action on several PC's service at one time.. In fact.. I'm going to dedicate an entire post some suggestions, but it takes me time. As I'm sure you can tell, I'm very thorough. Probably tomorrow or Friday I will make this post.[/quote]
I do agree with you to some extent. You see if we would design this dialog to work with a single computer only, then certainly the design would be different. But design of the Service management snap-in from Window is not exactly suitable for multi-computers operations. But you are probably right; we should review this feature and make it more user friendly.

[quote]4) I would like the ability to rename folders.[/quote]
It can be done via Properties dialog. F2 functionality is going to be implemented too.

[quote]5) If I select a custom port for installing VNC, I have to go to every PC to set what port VNC is set on that machine. Now, it is possible to change the default port globally, but I'd like the ability to set the port per folder group. I also notice that even if you change the default global setting, the PC must be removed from the DB and readded for the changes to apply. :/ Needs to be a way to adjust the port on many PCs at once. I for example, had changed the port of VNC on a folder of PC's of computers by reinstalling VNC via the Deplyoment Wizard, but then had to change the port the VNC Manager uses to open the server on every PC in the list by its properties.[/quote]
It can be done without changing properties for every registered computer, and you can update them on per group basis ;)
Here is how it can be done:

Open Tools->Options->Defaults->VNC Session (or RDP/VMRC session depending on your needs).
Click Edit Default Setting and set port to a custom value. Close the dialog.
Now click Apply to All Servers. Check Port Number in the top list. And in the bottom tree select registered computers groups you would want to update.
Click OK. That's it :)

[quote]Lastly (for now :p ) I have discovered what was happening to my VNC servers. We run software called PC Reservation by Envisionware. It is a computer use scheduler, for the many patrons who use our publicly provided computers. At the end of a patron's session on the PC, it closes the explorer.exe process. This has the side effect of closing the VNC system tray icon process, and thereby causes the winvnc.exe service to crash - not close, just stop responding. YEESH. Thats why I was getting so many blue icons. The VNC service was crashing, still running. So the port was left opened, but the program was not making responces. == Blue Circle. The service would not stop, so I had to end it using the Task Manager, and then start the service back. The more appropriate fix I eventually discovered was to adjust the PC Reservation software so that it leaves the VNC Task tray process alone at the end of a patrons session.[/quote]
I think you might want to report it to UltraVNC developers...considering how fast they come up with the fixes, you might expect this bug fixed around year 2008 :)

RE: Event Viewer Integration

BryanWieg — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 17:25:42 GMT

Hi, some more thoughts for you :)

1) I'm not sure how often in other people's experiences this happens, but for me from time to time VNC crashes. Sometimes the services stops, or the winvnc.exe service is running, but not responding. I think it would be a cool thing if the VNC manager could attempt a recovery when this is the case. I suggest that even if it displays a blue circle (which in my case meant that VNC service was running, but crashed) that VNC manager, when you try to initiate a VNC session to that specific computer, end the winvnc.exe process, and then start the service, and then attempt to connect the client module to the server. If it still fails, it probably means your on the wrong port. I thought perhaps a port scan feature would be nice, to find what port VNC is running on.. And then I decided.. that’s probably not feasible- for various reasons. What do you think?

2) If I click to open the Task Manager of a PC (right click the PC -> Computer Management Tasks -> Task manager), it opens the window with the computer in the connect box, but does not connect. ??? If I right click a PC and want to open the Task manager for it, it should connect upon opening the window. As it is, I must hit connect and then it bring the list of processes. That’s too many clicks! I'm lazy :p

3) Remote Administration of Windows Services: As it is, when I want to take a look at the services running on a PC, I right click it, and go to Computer Management Tasks -> Manager Services -> and Stop, Start, or restart. After making use of this it didn't take me long to realize that I needed to know the status of a service before I did any of those. Soooo, I would click any of the three just to open the 'Manage Service' window. And that’s not all, in order to see what services are on the PC, I have to click the middle small button by the box 'Service Name' and then type in the name of the computer I just right clicked, connect to that, and then it displays is a list below the input a short scroll list of the services and their state on the target PC. Whew! That was exausting! I was trouble shhoting VNC service today and wound up using the service.msc console to do what I needed because that was too clumsy, and would not reflect the states 'Stopping' or 'Starting', only 'Running' and 'Stopped'.

Suggestion:

That Services Manager (in my humble opinion) should be reworked. It is too clumsy and not obvious to use. I do like its ability to perform an action on several PC's service at one time.. In fact.. I'm going to dedicate an entire post some suggestions, but it takes me time. As I'm sure you can tell, I'm very thorough. Probably tomorrow or Friday I will make this post.

4) I would like the ability to rename folders.

5) If I select a custom port for installing VNC, I have to go to every PC to set what port VNC is set on that machine. Now, it is possible to change the default port globally, but I'd like the ability to set the port per folder group. I also notice that even if you change the default global setting, the PC must be removed from the DB and readded for the changes to apply. :/ Needs to be a way to adjust the port on many PCs at once. I for example, had changed the port of VNC on a folder of PC's of computers by reinstalling VNC via the Deplyoment Wizard, but then had to change the port the VNC Manager uses to open the server on every PC in the list by its properties.

6) I run VNC manager to administer 2 Domains. As it is, I can RDP to the other Domain and install on the other domain because of specific boxes in each (wizard or RDP settings window) for the seprate login information. However, it does not apply those admin logon credentials to the other WMI actions it can perform, such as reading services, adjusting the terminal settings, the Task Manager, etc. In some of those windows, it will request more logon credentials, In others, I simply get a message that I do not have authorization. I assume it is applying by default the domain settings for the domain the computer is in the the VNC manager is installed on. The program should save the admin logon credientials somehow for the other domain. Also, this should be able to be set in a properties box by global, folder, sub folder, or computer. RDP could be the credentials used, but some people do not use Admin credentials for RDP. So a sepreate box might be used. Or the program could be adapted to just have a place in the VNC Manager Options where you set the admin logon credentials for each domain, and then it automatically discovers what domain a PC is in by its full DNS name, and then applies the corresponding logon info. As it is, I do not know how the VNC Manager decides what logon credentials to apply when performaing an action on a PC.

Lastly (for now :p ) I have discovered what was happening to my VNC servers. We run software called PC Reservation by Envisionware. It is a computer use scheduler, for the many patrons who use our publicly provided computers. At the end of a patron's session on the PC, it closes the explorer.exe process. This has the side effect of closing the VNC system tray icon process, and thereby causes the winvnc.exe service to crash - not close, just stop responding. YEESH. Thats why I was getting so many blue icons. The VNC service was crashing, still running. So the port was left opened, but the program was not making responces. == Blue Circle. The service would not stop, so I had to end it using the Task Manager, and then start the service back. The more appropriate fix I eventually discovered was to adjust the PC Reservation software so that it leaves the VNC Task tray process alone at the end of a patrons session.

:) Thanks!

RE: Event Viewer Integration

Support (s-code) — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 09:44:07 GMT

The Firewall has nothing to do with it. It's a stupid change in the SP2, which causes a lot network scanning application to function incorrectly.

Limited number of simultaneous incomplete outbound TCP connection attempts

Detailed description

The TCP/IP stack now limits the number of simultaneous incomplete outbound TCP connection attempts. After the limit has been reached, subsequent connection attempts are put in a queue and will be resolved at a fixed rate. Under normal operation, when applications are connecting to available hosts at valid IP addresses, no connection rate-limiting will occur. When it does occur, a new event, with ID 4226, appears in the system’s event log.

Please read the following thread regarding this issue:

http://www.s-code.com/forum/shwmessage.aspx?ForumID=5&MessageID=108

Basically there are two ways to fix it:
1) install patched version of tcpip.sys
2) it's possible to do it in way approved by Microsoft, but it involves quite complicated registry editing process.

RE: Event Viewer Integration

BryanWieg — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 09:02:02 GMT

Yes. And the XP firewall is disabled.

RE: Event Viewer Integration

Support (s-code) — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 07:56:29 GMT

Regarding the VNC scan issue. Are you running XP with SP2?

RE: Event Viewer Integration

BryanWieg — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 07:10:54 GMT

[quote][b]Support (s-code) (7/13/2006)[/b][hr][quote]As long as you can test 2 things: Is it on? is RPC open? (since VNC as far a I know, does everything over RPC)[/quote]
VNC and RDP use dedicated ports that have nothing to do with RPC. RPC is used by WMI and some other components. VNC Manager performs most of the management tasks using WMI interface.
But anyway, something will be done about implementing additional status checks, that's for sure :)[/quote]

Yes, you are right, thanks to my bad wording. I should have said VNC Manager, but even thats not 100% correct.

VNC and RDP each use different ports, but a reply from those ports require that the appropriate service be running on the computer. RPC uses yet another port, and while its used for many things (and is unrelated to VNC or RPD) it, however, will always be running on the computer, as it is a required serivice.

Thats why I think its a good way to measure a PC's online status, as VNC and RDP may or may not be enabled, if the PC is on, RPC will always be enabled. The only thing that would block a test for RPC port reponse would be a firewall, or if the PC was off, or a different OS.

But you get the point, some additional way to check the status of a PC not depending on VNC and RDP, which are optional services, would be nice. :)

I will leave that into your caring hands.

On a somewhat seprate note: I'm still running into my VNC status checking showing that VNC is offline. Apparently its seems a bit random. Sometimes I get blue X for VNC status for an ENTIRE list of PC's (some red if the PC makes no reponse at all), and then sometimes Red, and sometimes Green. I have yet to determine that exact cause. Its seems unusual that VNC Server service would crash on so many computers and then restart it self. AFAIK, even the Windows Services will only restart a service 3 times, and this happens in more than three times in a row. Unless you know smething I don't, I'll keep trying to pinpoint whats happening.

Lastly - I see a new build has been released. Time for me to get to work! :w00t:

Thanks!

RE: Event Viewer Integration

Support (s-code) — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 22:58:46 GMT

[quote]As long as you can test 2 things: Is it on? is RPC open? (since VNC as far a I know, does everything over RPC)[/quote]
VNC and RDP use dedicated ports that have nothing to do with RPC. RPC is used by WMI and some other components. VNC Manager performs most of the management tasks using WMI interface.
But anyway, something will be done about implementing additional status checks, that's for sure :)

[quote]7) I have enabled regular checking of a computer's status every 30 minutes, and to check all the PCs on startup. Little did I know that the process take a long time on many computers, and you can not force check status of certain PC's whle its doing the over all update.[/quote]
Currently status scan uses one dedicated thread, which updates computer's statuses one by one. It's already on our features list that a multi-thread scan shall be implemented.
If you want to check statuses of only some computers, you can use Ctrl+U shortcut that will update status of computers selected in the right list. Opps actually seems like you already aware about this feature ...two things topic B) :)

[quote]Two things:

A) I'd request that while updating, you be able to see on the GUI that the status is being refreshed, BUT leave what the prevous status of the check was. Currently, the VNC and RPS status will display a clock while waiting for the refresh. Even if they are not immediately refreshing, but scheduled for one. So what happens is many computers always display a clock symbol becuase aver the hundred set to refresh, they don't all finish in one half hour. And have no idea what the prevous status was.

B) You be able to perform manual refreshes of PCs despite the backround regular refreshing. This is so I can get immediate snapshot of PC's status. Currently I have to wait for the regular 30 minute overall refresh to complete before a manual refresh will work. Thats a pain. :([/quote]
These two are perfectly valid comments. Both added to the features requests list.

RE: Event Viewer Integration

BryanWieg — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 11:41:29 GMT

1) Awsome:)

2) I like that idea. Very logical with the way windows file permissions work, so no learning curve for users.

3) Yaay! ;)

4) I'll workon it tomorrow. It may have happened becuase I was dragging folders during the same session. Although, I didn't get the errors unil I edited the properties of those folders, not during the dragging.

5) Oh well, at least one less thing to throw off a user. :)

New Thoughs:

6) As I was working yesterday with VNC Manager, it became more of an issue trying to work with PC's that were unreachable - for any reason. I had no way to tell if RDP and VNC were offline, or if the computer was just not accessible, weather offline or firewalled, doesn't matter really. I'd wish for a column that showed different colors for the following. Red, not pingable and RPC service unreachable. Yellow, pingable, RPC not reachable. Blue, not pingable, RPC reachable. Green, Pingable and RPC reachable. Or something like this. As long as you can test 2 things: Is it on? is RPC open? (since VNC as far a I know, does everything over RPC)

Im just not able to call people up, and need to a lot remotely. Seeing a column display this status would make things status a little quicker to see.

7) I have enabled regular checking of a computer's status every 30 minutes, and to check all the PCs on startup. Little did I know that the process take a long time on many computers, and you can not force check status of certain PC's whle its doing the over all update.

Two things:

Thanks! :)

RE: Event Viewer Integration

Support (s-code) — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 06:59:43 GMT

Just some update regarding the problems you reported:

3) Two bugs related to the folders drag&drop has been fixed today. Build 3.5.17.1 is going to include the fixes.

5) it appears that it's impossible to manage Terminal Server settings of Win2000 servers via WMI interface, since W2K doesn't have corresponding WMI classes :(
But now, the configuration dialog detects remote computer's OS and gives user friendly message.

RE: Event Viewer Integration

Support (s-code) — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 02:41:47 GMT

Bryan,
thank you for your feedback, it's really helpful!

[quote]1) I'd like to see some visual about what folder you are dragging an object into: For Example, I want to drag Object A to inside Folder B. I'd like to see Folder B (or whatever folder my mouse is over while dragging something) become highlighted. I can drag Computer(s) or other folder(s) as the objects. This is just the way Windows works (and other programs) by default, and I'm used to it. :P (object dragging.jpg)[/quote]
This is something we wanted to do since the day one when the drag&drop was implemented. I think this feature will be implemented shortly after v3.5 release. Let us fix what you reported under item 3) first ;)

[quote]2) As far as the folder settings, let me give clear detail. As you see in my screen shot, I had to set 6 folders to accept Parent Folders Settings for VNC and RDP so that the settings from the master folder IT Domain would apply. The more I use this, the list of folders will grow, and this could get hectic and time consuming, especially with the program crashing and erasing some of my work, lol. The reason for the folders is the fact that our network has several locations, and a lot of computers. :) I would like folders to be set by default to accept the parent folders settings, not thier own. (screenshot1.jpg)[/quote]
Good point. I think this could be implemented for subfolders. So when created, top-level folders would be set to use their own settings and sub-folder would be set to use parent folder settings. What do you think?

[quote]3) Bug Report: When moving folders, I got various crashes and errors from the program, all attached to the thread. Seems the Folders function of the program is not very solid yet. One time, I tried to move a folder, and it would not move. So I tried to delete it, and the program crashed. When the program relaunched, the folder was where I had moved it to the first time, heh.[/quote]
Yep this is known bug :blush:, it's gonna be fixed in one of the upcoming RC builds.

[quote]4) Bug Report: When configuring the folder settings, the program gets a little buggy. I went through and configured the 6 folders to Accept Parent Folders Settings, but by the 5th one, the program was throwing exceptions ech time I hit OK for the Folder Preferences dialog. I hit continue each time, and things seemed to work ok.[/quote]
I was unable to reproduce this problem. I created 10 nested folders and didn't get any errors while updating their Parent properties.
It could be that the error was caused by previous drag&drop errors. Can you please reproduce this problem? May be some special steps are required to reproduce it?

[quote]5) I tried to configure RDP on a Win 2k server today, and got a new error. Picture attached as error3.jpg. This error window displays information about the structure of the VNC Manager source, I do not think this is the way intended to handle exceptions.[/quote]
Can you please post the screenshot? I think you forgot to attach it.
Also before taking screenshots of the error message box window, please have the Details window opened (click show Details button in the left lower corner).

[quote]As for just the RPC service not being reachable I have not experienced, but certainly the VNC manager being able to distinguish between a powered off computer (perhaps by ping) and just the RPC being unreachable moves the troubelshooting process forward.[/quote]
This is not always the case. In most case if RPC ports are unavailable so is the Ping ports too. For instance by default, Windows Firewall blocks both RPC and Ping (Echo Reply) ports.

I do not have error information for each time. If you need it, I will attempt to recreate the errors and get you the information you need.

Otherwise, I have already been using the program a lot, and I really love all that it does. I will also take the time to use the Remote Execution feature you mentioned.

Thanks!

RE: Event Viewer Integration

BryanWieg — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 13:38:12 GMT

Hey,

Thanks for the reply for now. And yes, that did work,I am able to now import the computers from the other domain. However! :) Now the program freezes up either during, or immediately after adding all the computers (about 150 of them).

I look foward to hearing from you tomorrow.

sleep well. :)

RE: Event Viewer Integration

Support (s-code) — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 12:01:33 GMT

Bryan,
it should be possible to fetch computers from another domain.

Have you tried to enter the user name in form of domain\username?

We usually test this feature running the VNC Manager on a workgroup computer and when we want fetch computers from out test domain, a user name have to be entered like: scode\tester
If I omit the domain name, I would get the exactly the same error as on your screenshot.

PS: I'll answer to the previous amazingly long message :) in our AM next morning, since now it's midnight in Singapore and I want to answer to the post with a fresh head.

RE: Event Viewer Integration

BryanWieg — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 11:24:49 GMT

Additionally, I'd like to have the ability to scan computer in other domains with the Computer Registration Wizard. I can add the computer manually, but I can not scan them with the tool.

The computer the VNC manager is installed on is on the IT domain. When I try to scan the AD domain, I enter the correct credentials, but I get an error. Please see the screenshot.

Thanks!

RE: Event Viewer Integration

BryanWieg — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 10:58:30 GMT

Here is some more feedback today. :D (By the way, all this is with the latest Beta, perhaps this thread should be moved to the appropriate forum section.)

I have organized the computers in my network into neat little folders inside the VNC Manager. However, I noticed some things that could use tweaking.

Moving folders into the inside of other folders is not easy. (ie, I'd make a folder in the root and decide to move it into another existing folder.) Sometimes I'd have to drag a few times to get it inside. Sometimes the program would crash. Sometimes it would move, I think, but the program GUI did not reflect the folders new location, causing one of the errors I got.

Also, when having nested folders, as you see in my screen shot, I had to set on each folder to accept the VNC, RDP settings of the parent, up to the level Folder who had the master settings for the whole group. Kind of like Windows File Permissions, you have a button in to reset all files and folders down the tree to accept the changes you made at the higher level regardless of what thier settings were.

So, so more detail for you:

1) I'd like to see some visual about what folder you are dragging an object into: For Example, I want to drag Object A to inside Folder B. I'd like to see Folder B (or whatever folder my mouse is over while dragging something) become highlighted. I can drag Computer(s) or other folder(s) as the objects. This is just the way Windows works (and other programs) by default, and I'm used to it. :P (object dragging.jpg)

I know, not life threatening, but a nice little tweak. :)

2) As far as the folder settings, let me give clear detail. As you see in my screen shot, I had to set 6 folders to accept Parent Folders Settings for VNC and RDP so that the settings from the master folder IT Domain would apply. The more I use this, the list of folders will grow, and this could get hectic and time consuming, especially with the program crashing and erasing some of my work, lol. The reason for the folders is the fact that our network has several locations, and a lot of computers. :) I would like folders to be set by default to accept the parent folders settings, not thier own. (screenshot1.jpg)

3) Bug Report: When moving folders, I got various crashes and errors from the program, all attached to the thread. Seems the Folders function of the program is not very solid yet. One time, I tried to move a folder, and it would not move. So I tried to delete it, and the program crashed. When the program relaunched, the folder was where I had moved it to the first time, heh.

4) Bug Report: When configuring the folder settings, the program gets a little buggy. I went through and configured the 6 folders to Accept Parent Folders Settings, but by the 5th one, the program was throwing exceptions ech time I hit OK for the Folder Preferences dialog. I hit continue each time, and things seemed to work ok.

5) I tried to configure RDP on a Win 2k server today, and got a new error. Picture attached as error3.jpg. This error window displays information about the structure of the VNC Manager source, I do not think this is the way intended to handle exceptions. Like you said in the above post, a box saying. "RPC Server unvalailable, check for firewall, etc" or something similar might be better. The whole terminal services part of the VNC Manager seems to choke if the computer or RPC service is unreachable for any reason. In fact, just as I'm writing this, the program stopped responding after having one of these termial services errors with an unreachable computer. In the case of the Win 2k server, it connects find to the RDP, just not the Manage Terminal Services windows in VNC manager. In other cases, the computer could not be powered on, and the program throws exceptions. As for just the RPC service not being reachable I have not experienced, but certainly the VNC manager being able to distinguish between a powered off computer (perhaps by ping) and just the RPC being unreachable moves the troubelshooting process forward.

I do not have error information for each time. If you need it, I will attempt to recreate the errors and get you the information you need.

Otherwise, I have already been using the program a lot, and I really love all that it does. I will also take the time to use the Remote Execution feature you mentioned.

Thanks!

RE: Event Viewer Integration

Support (s-code) — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 23:05:21 GMT

[quote]I'd like to see the VNC Manager give a button to open a window showing the remotr PC's event veiwer logs.[/quote]
Actually this feature has been part of the VNC Manager since v3.0. well sort of. It's possible to open Computer Manager snap-in, which includes Event Viewer snap-in as well. So I don't think it would be a good idea to have a separate command for the Event Viewer.
Unfortunately Microsoft's developers were too lazy to implement password dialog. Because of that, logon to a remote computer using default logon credentials fails, Event Viewer and Computer Manager snap-in doesn't offer user to enter an alternative logon credentials.
[quote]A column on the My Registered Computer's page that would display a Red X if any Errors were logged on a certain computer. Now, some errors are not really errors, so I'd also request a Customizing feature where VNC Manager could ignore certain errors, and not display the Red X based on certain criteria. It would also be nice if certain I could customize for the VNC Manager to display Yellow Exclamation points based on certain criteria.

I think this would be useful becuase as often as I use this tool, I'd have an easy way to see the heath of the PC's on my network. Bad HD? Bad Floppy Drive? Failed logons? etc etc? VNC Manager would let me see via the GUI that something was wrong on that computer, promting me to take a closer look.[/quote]
We actually were asked about similar feature quite a few times already. So I guess we will do something about it in the v4.0.

[quote]2) The My Registered Computer's page nicely shows the Status of VNC on a computer. I have noticed that it does not differenciate between VNC not being installed on a computer, and the service just not running for some reason. It would be nice if this were possible, as today, during my Trial, I reinstalled VNC several times thinking it was an install failure, when instead it was VNC service stopping for some reason. I was easily able to use the VNC Manager to start the service when I noticed this.[/quote]

It certanly can be done, but it will make scanning ten times slow. Since in order to implement this feature, we will have to establish a connection to a remote computer and scan it's services list for the VNC service presence. But anyway, it does sounds like a good idea. Will add it to the Features requests list.

Additional: Futher use revlealed that the services would regularly stop on a lot of my machines. I do not know why. The ability for VNC Manager to try and automatically start the service would be nice.

[quote]3) Bug: I tried to use the VNC Deployment Wizard to deploy UltraVNC with it configured for port 50555. For some reason, they were deployed using the default port, 5900. If you need more info, please let me know.[/quote]

Confirmed and fixed in 3.5.17.1

[quote]4) Bug: If I try to access the Terminal Service Manager on a computer that is not powered on, I get an error, but I think it is not meant to be handled this way. (Picture attached)[/quote]

The error dialog may be improved by adding an explanation notice about RPC error. Unfortunately RPC error just means that it's impossible to establish a connection to a remote computer. There are could be several reasons for the error: Remote computer down, firewall blocks RPC traffic, you entered and invalid IP address, WMI service is stopped, etc.

[quote]5) I would like to customize the colomns displayed on the My Registered Computer's page so that some may be hidden.[/quote]

View->Choose Details ;)

[quote]To me this is more than a VNC Managing program. Many of the tools you've linked into the program (Software Uninstallation, Manament) make this a good program for all around remote administration. I love it![/quote]

Have you tried to use Remote Execution tools yet? We just introduced this feature in the 3.5.17.0 build and very intrested in a feedback from our users about it.

[quote]Thanks! I hope this input is helpful.[/quote]

Thank you too! It definitely was helpful!

Event Viewer Integration

BryanWieg — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 16:35:43 GMT

I'd like to see the VNC Manager give a button to open a window showing the remotr PC's event veiwer logs.

But even further, I'd wish for this:

A column on the My Registered Computer's page that would display a Red X if any Errors were logged on a certain computer. Now, some errors are not really errors, so I'd also request a Customizing feature where VNC Manager could ignore certain errors, and not display the Red X based on certain criteria. It would also be nice if certain I could customize for the VNC Manager to display Yellow Exclamation points based on certain criteria.

Aside from the Event Veiwer integration other things:

1) There are certain times where the program becomes unresponsive while performing a funtion on another computer (scan, install, uninstall). Some take quite a while, and a small window displaying some sort of moving picture (like when windows boots, a sliding bar) would be nice to let me knw the program hasn't crashed or just died on me.

2) The My Registered Computer's page nicely shows the Status of VNC on a computer. I have noticed that it does not differenciate between VNC not being installed on a computer, and the service just not running for some reason. It would be nice if this were possible, as today, during my Trial, I reinstalled VNC several times thinking it was an install failure, when instead it was VNC service stopping for some reason. I was easily able to use the VNC Manager to start the service when I noticed this. Additional: Futher use revlealed that the services would regularly stop on a lot of my machines. I do not know why. The ability for VNC Manager to try and automatically start the service would be nice.

3) Bug: I tried to use the VNC Deployment Wizard to deploy UltraVNC with it configured for port 50555. For some reason, they were deployed using the default port, 5900. If you need more info, please let me know.

4) Bug: If I try to access the Terminal Service Manager on a computer that is not powered on, I get an error, but I think it is not meant to be handled this way. (Picture attached)

5) I would like to customize the colomns displayed on the My Registered Computer's page so that some may be hidden.

To me this is more than a VNC Managing program. Many of the tools you've linked into the program (Software Uninstallation, Manament) make this a good program for all around remote administration. I love it!

Thanks! I hope this input is helpful.

Bryan